Serious Inquiries Only

Today we bring you something not at all COVID (or politics) related. We recorded a wonderful interview with Skye Cleary back over a month ago, just before the pandemic changed all our lives. We thought it would be a much needed change of pace. Skye is a philosopher who teaches at Columbia University, and is the author of Existentialism and Romantic Love (Palgrave Macmillan 2015) and co-editor of How to Live a Good Life (Vintage 2020).

Jamie is back! We set out to discuss what happened in the primary and have a spirited debate as well. Some things I mentioned: 538, Vox, Weeds episode.

Joe Biden has been accused of sexual assault by Tara Reade, with the alleged incident taking place in 1993 when she worked for him. In my opinion, there has been a tremendous amount of bad faith in how this has been talked about my many outlets. This story has consumed my brain and I haven't been able to think of anything else for a few days, so I have just felt I had to do my best to lend an objective voice to a very charged topic. I know I'm just another privileged dude opining, but I believe I've shown that I take accusations very seriously and am willing to kill my heroes. With all that in mind, what follows is likely convoluted and circuitous, but that's because my feelings on this have been all over the place. I hope you find it useful. Here are the links I reference: Jezebel; Salon, Current Affairs Robinson Piece; Tara Reade Transcript on Current Affairs; Krassensteins Medium; Reade's Medium post; Lucy Flores's Accusation

It has been about a year since we talked about the charges against Cardinal Pell for sex crimes against minors, and now he has won on appeal to the highest court in Australia. This sounds like terrible news, but Andrew Torrez and Australian lawyer James Rogers are here to break it down for us! It's an Opening Arguments crossover spectacular!

Jamie and I talk about the pandemic.

It's a solo show! We've got a couple Tuesdays' worth of primary results to discuss, and they aren't good for Bernie Sanders. So why is Bernie doing so much worse than in 2016? According to Amanda Marcotte and others, it's maybe due to sexism. I discuss that and other responses to it. I also talk about some mindset changes I've been having, spurred by how awful Twitter has been in this primary and also by the book Politics is for Power, that really has opened my eyes to how many ways politics is merely a hobby and why that's not good.

This is a part 2 of 2. We continue the discussion with Gregg Caruso! He is a professor of philosophy at SUNY Corning in New York, honorary professor of philosophy at Macquarie University in Sydney, Australia, and visiting researcher at the University of Aberdeen School of Law in Scotland. His latest book is Unjust Deserts: Free Will, Punishment, and Criminal Justice (forthcoming). He also debated Daniel Dennett on free will in written form on Aeon, which we highly encourage you to check out!

This is a part 1 of 2! We're doubling the number of philosophers on the show this week, with a fantastic guest in Gregg Caruso! He is a professor of philosophy at SUNY Corning in New York, honorary professor of philosophy at Macquarie University in Sydney, Australia, and visiting researcher at the University of Aberdeen School of Law in Scotland. His latest book is Unjust Deserts: Free Will, Punishment, and Criminal Justice (forthcoming). He also debated Daniel Dennett on free will in written form on Aeon, which we highly encourage you to check out!

We had ourselves another debate and it was intense, and poorly moderated. Jamie and I break it down, and also go into the question that seemed a lot more relevant last week: would we vote for Bloomberg if he's the candidate to face Trump in the general? Find out! Download Here

It's time for listener questions! It's been far too long so some of these are older, but they're very worthwhile to discuss still. First up, why do we prefer means testing for Yang's UBI but not free tuition to public universities? Then, was there no evidence that Dr. Ford ever met Kavanaugh? Should Franken be able to make a comeback? Why do daycare workers make so little? (insert heated debate about Bernie supporters...) Then finally, some questions about inner monologue! Download Here